the young Briton kept in a coma for four months is dead, announces his mother

His parents had fought in court against the health care system. Archie Battersbee, a 12-year-old British boy who had been brain dead for four months, died on Saturday August 6, his mother, Hollie Dance, told television. “He fought until the very end”she said, in tears, “so proud to be his mum”.

The teenager had been kept in a coma in a London hospital since April. Archie Battersbee being considered brain dead, British justice had authorized the hospital in mid-July to end the treatments that kept him alive. these were discontinued approximately two hours prior to death.

His parents had exhausted all avenues of appeal, before British and European justice, to oppose the cessation of treatment. They then asked for his transfer from the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel to a palliative care facility. Buthospital deemed his condition too unstable for transfer, could have “very likely to accelerate the degradation feared by the parents”.

Archie Battersbee was found unconscious at his home on Thursday April 7 and had not regained consciousness since. According to his mother, he participated in a social media challenge to hold his breath until he passed out.